Judge who said rape victim should have 'put up a fight' is rebuked

Judge who said rape victim should have 'put up a fight' is rebuked

The state agency that monitors judicial misconduct has publicly admonished an Orange County judge, saying his remarks in a sexual assault case breached judicial ethics and created an impression of bias against the victim.

At a June 2008 sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge Derek G. Johnson denied a prosecutor’s call to impose a 16-year prison term on Metin Gurel, who had been convicted of rape, forcible oral copulation, domestic battery, stalking and making threats against his former live-in girlfriend.

On the day he raped her, prosecutors said, Gurel had threatened to mutilate her face and vagina with a heated screwdriver.

Johnson decided to impose a six-year sentence.

“I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something,” the judge said, according to documents released Thursday. “If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage in inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case.

"That tells me that the victim in this case, although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/judge-slammed-for-outdated-and-biased-remarks-on-rape.html